05/03/14 - Emerald Pool

Weight - 36lb 8oz
Catch - 91 Hybrids, 25 Skimmers, 12 Roach, 1 Rudd
Weather - Light cloud, sunny periods. Frosty start.
Match - Open - 8th out of 16

So a re-run of the match from 2 weeks ago and the weather has become milder, which meant the carp were likely to be more active, which could & did prove problematic for some. Also because some can’t tell the difference between F1s, fantails, crucians and proper carp, all were excluded for the purpose of this match.

Having loaded the trolley with my all my kit, I then walked the 4 paces to my peg, as I drew the peg closest to the draw. Not a great area, with the open water on the opposite bank being the favoured area, however I was looking forward to getting plenty of bites and just enjoying the day. Needless to say there was plenty of banter flying around, particularly from Tom Thick, which was entertaining.

Plumbing around the swim, I found the deepest spot adjacent to the island at 10m and down the channel to my right towards the footbridge. So both these areas received a consignment of groundbait and caster. At 5m I started loose feeding caster.





Rigs for the day:-
- SM Chimp 0.4g > .10 > 18 silverfish pellet – maggot/caster over groundbait
- Jolly 4x12 > .10 > 18 silverfish maggot

After an initial slow start I soon had some pound roach and a few hybrids from the 5m line, before the line faded and a switch to the 10m line produced a run of fish, before that faded. So after the first hour I had 20 fish and 50 by the end of 2^nd hour following a strong run of fish from the 5m line.

The 3^rd hour slowed again, but a golden 45mins over the 10m line during the 4^th hour, where the float barely had chance to settle when a run of better sized skimmers arrived following a big pot of caster and a ball of groundbait. Unfortunately the trick didn’t work quite as well for the a 2^nd time.

The right hand 10m line was proving to be a useful fall back swim for a few extra fish. The 6^th and final hour proved to be really slow, when I only caught a couple of fish in a barren 30min spell. The final 30mins was better when I set up a new swim at 11.5m, plus I had a couple carp which didn’t help. In hindsight and speaking to a couple of regulars I over fed the swim towards the end, but I was hoping to pull in some better fish.

To be honest I wasn’t expecting to do that well from my peg and thought I was ahead of the anglers opposite except for Tom & Steve Tucker, because I was catching quicker, but ultimately it was the average size of fish that let me down. 2 weeks ago I was averaging 3 fish to a pound, today it was 4 fish to a pound, with only a handful fish in excess of 8oz. Having said that what a lovely days fishing and the weights were really tight.

1^st 67- 4 – Tom Thick – p9
2^nd 53- 0 – Steve Tucker – p6
3^rd 45- 0 – Tim Clarke – p5
4^th 39-14 – Harry Muir – p7
4^th 39-14 – John Bradford – p1
6^th 38- 6 – Barry Fitchew – p13